Pegasus Solutions, Inc
. (Nasdaq:
PEGS) announced today at the HITEC 2002 Exposition and Conference
in Chicago that it has signed a ground-breaking Internet distribution
agreement with the world`s 10th largest hotel company, Carlson
Hospitality Worldwide
.
Under the agreement, Pegasus
and Carlson
will jointly develop a direct
connection to Carlson`s central reservations system (CRS), for the
first time enabling all of Carlson`s 800-plus hotel properties in 63
countries to receive online real-time bookings via the thousands of
Internet sites that are “Powered by Pegasus(TM).” Providing direct
connections to the CRSs of more than 44,000 properties, Pegasus
delivers extensive hotel property information and Web booking
capabilities to online travel agency sites and Internet services
around the world such as Orbitz, Travelweb.com, Lastminute.com, HRS,
TravelChannel.de, Hotwire, and Ebookers.com.
“We are very pleased to have won Carlson as an Internet distribution
customer,” commented John F. Davis III
, chief executive officer and
chairman of the board, Pegasus Solutions. “Consumers worldwide will
now have the ability to book Radissons and other Carlson hotel brands
via the thousands of sites in our Online Distribution Network. With
this signing, we can now offer our Web site customers and their
consumers booking access to the 50 biggest hotel brands in the world,
along with thousands of smaller chains and independent properties.This agreement represents a major milestone for Pegasus Solutions. As
a result of this contract, we now have the 15 largest hotel companies
in the world as customers,” Davis said.

Christine Brosnahan, vice president, reservations and distribution
services, Carlson Hospitality Worldwide said, “Radisson was the first
hotel company to create the `seamless` online booking process. As
more and more travelers make their plans online, we want Carlson`s
hotels to be available wherever consumers may go searching on the Web.
This link to Pegasus gives us even more reach to more sites on the
Internet.”

Brosnahan continued, “The online content that we can provide via
Pegasus is superior to that which we can provide through the
GDS-powered sites. Content is really what rules in the hotel world.
Internet sites need consumer-friendly property and rate descriptions,
unlimited photos, streaming video, maps, and more. Our hotels are
excited about this new agreement with Pegasus.”

Carlson properties are expected to be
added to Pegasus` extensive Online Distribution Database, which is the
database that feeds photos and detailed property information to all
the sites in Pegasus` Online Distribution Network.

According to Carlson, during the first quarter of 2002, its Internet
bookings represented 10 percent of its total reservations.
Additionally, Carlson`s first quarter 2002 Internet bookings were up
81 percent over the same period in 2001.
According to Forrester Research
projections, the number of Americans
making online travel purchases in 2002 will grow to 23.3 million U.S.
households. Forrester also predicts that online leisure travel sales
will total $20.4 billion in 2002, and hotel reservations booked online
will reach $3.8 billion.
According to ComScore Networks
, sales at U.S. travel sites reached $7
billion in the first quarter of 2002, an increase of 87 percent versus
the same period in 2001, and accounted for 41 percent of total
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